Permissions Issues & Errors

neon_eddie

I am having a bit of a time understanding the folder permissions/ownership. I am using the temp directory temporarily while I setup and tweak the forum as I have my main site in the public_html directory (domain root). This is where I currently have the forum. (V1.8.10 & PHP 8.2.28)

/home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/

I am not using the public folder and have moved all its contents to the /temp folder. I have updated the paths in the site.php and updated the htaccess file.

I believe I have all the file and folder permissions correctly setup and the forum seems to be working correctly (mostly). All files and folders are owned by "mywebsite" (not root or nobody).

My issue is that the script seems very touchy with any changes made from with in the admin area. These changes also often crash the script. (which is odd)

When Installing extensions, I often get (not every time though):

"Flarum encountered a boot error. Details have been logged to the Flarum log file." <= Admin page dies and have to login via user area.

"Oops! Something went wrong. Please reload the page and try again." <= User facing error

Here is part of the log:

[2025-07-07 17:12:40] flarum.ERROR: Error: Class "FoF\AntiSpam\Providers\SfsProvider" not found in /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/Application.php:228
Stack trace:
#0 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/Application.php(181): Flarum\Foundation\Application->resolveProviderClass()
#1 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Extend/ServiceProvider.php(41): Flarum\Foundation\Application->register()
#2 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Extension/Extension.php(141): Flarum\Extend\ServiceProvider->extend()
#3 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Extension/ExtensionManager.php(390): Flarum\Extension\Extension->extend()
#4 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Extension/ExtensionServiceProvider.php(31): Flarum\Extension\ExtensionManager->extend()
#5 [internal function]: Flarum\Extension\ExtensionServiceProvider->Flarum\Extension{closure}()
#6 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/Application.php(329): call_user_func()
#7 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/Application.php(270): Flarum\Foundation\Application->fireAppCallbacks()
#8 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/InstalledSite.php(151): Flarum\Foundation\Application->boot()
#9 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/InstalledSite.php(82): Flarum\Foundation\InstalledSite->bootLaravel()
#10 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Http/Server.php(59): Flarum\Foundation\InstalledSite->bootApp()
#11 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Http/Server.php(36): Flarum\Http\Server->safelyBootAndGetHandler()
#12 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/index.php(26): Flarum\Http\Server->listen()
#13 {main}

Next Flarum\Extension\Exception\ExtensionBootError: Experienced an error while booting extension: FoF Anti Spam.

Error occurred while applying an extender of type: Flarum\Extend\ServiceProvider. in /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Extension/Extension.php:143
Stack trace:
#0 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Extension/ExtensionManager.php(390): Flarum\Extension\Extension->extend()
#1 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Extension/ExtensionServiceProvider.php(31): Flarum\Extension\ExtensionManager->extend()
#2 [internal function]: Flarum\Extension\ExtensionServiceProvider->Flarum\Extension{closure}()
#3 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/Application.php(329): call_user_func()
#4 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/Application.php(270): Flarum\Foundation\Application->fireAppCallbacks()
#5 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/InstalledSite.php(151): Flarum\Foundation\Application->boot()
#6 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Foundation/InstalledSite.php(82): Flarum\Foundation\InstalledSite->bootLaravel()
#7 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Http/Server.php(59): Flarum\Foundation\InstalledSite->bootApp()
#8 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/vendor/flarum/core/src/Http/Server.php(36): Flarum\Http\Server->safelyBootAndGetHandler()
#9 /home/mywebsite/public_html/temp/index.php(26): Flarum\Http\Server->listen()
#10 {main}

Also, when clearing the cache from Admin, I often get:
"Could not write to filesystem. Check your filesystem permissions and try again. Or try running from the command line."

luceos

neon_eddie Interesting....I just got a "Oops! Something went wrong. Please reload the page and try again." here on this forum (flarum.org) while I was just viewing a thread. I have never seen this on any live platform ever. Seems precarious.

We did a migration yesterday. That might have caused some hickups throughout the day.

As for your own issue, using a folder called temp for all non public files seems very hazardous, you might know today what is contained in it but how about two years from now. Temp folders are usually used temporarily and should allow deletion.

neon_eddie When Installing extensions, I often get (not every time though):

"Flarum encountered a boot error. Details have been logged to the Flarum log file." <= Admin page dies and have to login via user area.

The extension manager runs operations on the filesystem. If it runs into a timeout or permission issues it might be killed prematurely and cause a malformed vendor directory. If you have bash/terminal access I recommend using composer commands directly.

If that's not possible the logs directory should also contain a log for the extension manager which give us insight into what is going wrong.

neon_eddie

Interesting....I just got a "Oops! Something went wrong. Please reload the page and try again." here on this forum (flarum.org) while I was just viewing a thread. I have never seen this on any live platform ever. Seems precarious.

KBExit

neon_eddie That is because you had the site in the background and the tokens timed out. This happens to every website, you simply hit refresh. Only difference is, Flarum would actually tell you when the site is not actually showing the latest and greatest, despite your browser saying that it is "live."

KBExit

It looks like you misunderstood the install instructions...
From a glance, it looks like your /vendor folder is exposed since you said your public path is /temp
That is not the correct install.

I advise installing Flarum by putting the entire installation in your public_html folder and then setting your document root to public_html/public and install Flarum from that point on. No need to rename /public to /temp as that would only make sense if you're doing a subdirectory install.

neon_eddie

KBExit Thanks! The forum is being tested in the /temp folder as there is a live site currently in the root (public_html). I don't want to take that down until I have configured Flarum. So I guess I am doing a subdirectory install for now. Where would the vendor folder normally be? I don't believe I moved that folder. Also, still trying to understand the errors with installing extensions and clearing the cache.

neon_eddie

KBExit Is there a way to actually change the language of this? The current notification seems horrible if it is just a friendly reminder.

From => "Oops! Something went wrong. Please reload the page and try again."
To => "Looks like the content has been updated. Please reload the page for the update"

KBExit

These folders should be at the same level:
/Public
/Storage
/Vendor

In your case:
/Temp
/Storage
/Vendor

I really suggest installing this in a subdomain for simplicity and ensuring proper security measures are met. You don't want your /storage or /vendor directories accessible to the public at all. Hence why the installation suggests you point root to /public.

neon_eddie

luceos The /temp folder install is Temporary until I have the site setup correctly (not live, not visible to the public).

I do have access to SSH. I thought I read somewhere on this forum that it might be an issues to mix running SSH and Admin area commands as it may cause permission issues. For some reason I cannot clear the cache from within the Admin area, and am hesitant to run the clear cache command via SSH.

KBExit

neon_eddie I have no issues with clearing cache in admin panel or ssh. Have no issues with extension manager or ssh either. The primary method of running any command on Flarum is SSH via Composer.

I really recommend you install Flarum based on the instructions in a subdomain. You can always password protect your directory until you're ready for release. No reason to put it in a /temp folder. And ensure vendor, storage, and public are at the same level. Point doc root to /public via Apache or NGINX for that subdomain.

clarkwinkelmann

There's really no issue installing Flarum in a subfolder, no matter what it's called. If you follow the "no public path" instructions or use the ZIP, then the installation is safe. You can run a scan with the lab to make sure the vendor and storage folders are protected https://discuss.flarum.org/d/10056-migratetoflarum-lab-the-health-scanner-for-flarum

Just keep in mind that if you change the forum domain/path later, you'll need to edit config.php to change the value. You might also need to edit your post or navigation content if you inserted links to pages on the temporary URL.

What we really need is access to the error messages in order to provide more help.